the problem we have is not only oil but also we way our infrastructure is set up.

our sprawling suburbs have been zoned by municipalities and built by developers with the idea that some cheap form of energy will always be available. The very clear separation between commercial and rezidential zoning make it close to impossible to live life without a car. Plus, residential real estate prices are inversly proportional to the distance to commercial/cultural centers. In effect higher gas prices will affect the lower middle classes who can't afford or can't fit (for reasons of family size) a condo in the newly spruced-up downtowns or a house close to those downtowns.

It's tough to undo what seventy years of building according to zoning that's been segregated into residential/retail/commericial/industrial have done. While the zoning assures beautiful clean neighborhoods, it made us perrenial commuters, and forever hooked on some form of cheap energy.

vossssov: I think your comment is utterly wrong. Citizenship in any country is a privilege, not a right. To be given that privilege you must fulfill certain conditions. In the US, you must have a cursory understanding of US history, civics, and politics. Basically you have to prove your Americanness in a way that's compatible with what we as Americans think of ourselves. Same thing goes for the French. They are not discriminating against sex, religion, or race, but are affirming the woman's unFrenchness - which she herself preserved. Why bestow the privilege of French citizenship on someone who does not want to embrace French culture and did not make an effort to understand French values? Basically she didn't want to be French, she just wanted the French citizenship.

The victim argument doesn't hold water either. She doesn't claim injury in any of her fillings. For the Court to assume that her psyche was somehow hurt by her own cultural practices would be nothing short of prejudiced. It would basically criminalize her cultural background.

You are a medical doctor and you are making money and you'll pay your debt. You wanted to become a doctor because it's such a wonderful thing to be a doctor and help people, right? You certainly didn't become a doctor because you could make loads of money and live the life once you get out of your residency program, right? And you married for love not because he seemed like a great catch, right? And you never felt embarrased you parents' weren't so savvy and let that embarrasment show in front of your husband, right? I have a sneaky feeling you haven't been quite upfront with your new husband about your financial doldrums. I also think he might be an uncorncerned, cold idiot. I have a feeling you didn't stand up for yourself forcefully enough, didn't present yourself and your debt clearly before you got married, and didn't make sure your husband understands he's marrying a human being that comes replete with parents, siblings, debt etc, and not merely a life enhancing crutch.

In a different vein, you are an educated woman and yet believe you that was YOUR wedding and YOUR parents' responsibility? Honey, this is the XXIth century and you are a bit of a fool. You knew your parents' didn't have the financial resources to pull off a huge wedding, yet you went on with it, and now you're having a retired couple on a fixed income make payments to YOU because you had to have YOUR wedding! What a load of crap!!! You complain your husband is mean to your parents, yet you cash that check every month.

Your husband is taking advantage of your spinelessness and is torturing you a little bit. Grow a spine, tell your belovec to shove it, call your parents and thank them for their efforts and then burn the next check that comes, pay your debt off, and stop flailing around. You'll be fine!

I was shocked at Biden's bad delivery and over-the-top folksy speech. His mother looked incredible - she had the most vibrant smile on her still-beautiful face. His wife was gorgeous and his son's speech good. But what the heck happened to Joe himself? "From Amtrak to veterans" - whatever that means and "Barack Obama provided health insurance for 150 children and their families" (or something along those lines) made me cringe. Afte the pitch-perfect Clinton speech he fell on his face and I felt sorry for him.

Quite frankly I am not interested in Sarah Palin's son birth details. It's beyond ridiculous the author of this article would make a whole thesis out of her choice to carry to term a Down syndrome baby. It was her personal choice and I find your interest in the details beyond lubricious - a huge turn off and a desperate attempt to cast her n a negative light using the "unsafe medical practice" argument. As far as I am concerned she could have given birth in a tree if she so decided. I don't care that much about her politics, but those are insanely disgusting attacks. Do you care about that kid? I don't think so. He's here because his mother and father wanted him, and there's nothing there for you to comment or to do about it. Lay off your sexist and mysoginistic arguments - equal opportunity and the right to reproduce as they please applies to everybody, not just liberal men and women who feel they've found the formula for "righteous" living.